


i'll leave my heart (with you)

by WickedSong



Series: the sorceress and knight [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 14:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18719140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedSong/pseuds/WickedSong
Summary: "But Traverse Town had become her home, with her friends - her family.Rinoa remembered helping Aerith in her flower shop, as well as tending to those who were injured in Heartless attacks. She’d laugh with Yuffie as they watched Cid and Cloud tinker with yet another gummi ship part, until the pair were almost at each other’s throats.Rinoa recalled, too, the first time she’d met Squall, and the night they’d spent watching the stars in the sky. The first time they’d kissed was clear in her mind, and she could never forget the day she thought she would lose him forever and instead he’d promised to stand by her side."





	i'll leave my heart (with you)

**Author's Note:**

> -I know it's been like three months since I added anything to this and nobody really cares any more, but the words finally came to me, so here's the next part! I promise I do have the ideas, it's just hard to put them down.
> 
> -Nonetheless, I hope if you read this, you enjoy it! Once I got into, it was really a lot of fun to write.

All she remembered was darkness.

Which is why Rinoa was surprised when she awoke, seemingly still alive and whole. Her last memory was sending Squall away, to safety, before she was overcome by the tide of Heartless.

She’d expected them to devour her heart whole. But she could still _feel_.

And that realisation made what she’d done, and all she’d now left behind, ache all the more.

* * *

 

It was hard for Rinoa to adjust to life without the comforts she’d learned to appreciate in Traverse Town; a warm bed, clean clothes and a roof over her head.

It was harder too to adjust without her friends, and without Squall.

She prayed every day that he was still alive, and she would see him again someday. More than prayed; she _knew_ it in her heart. She was a Sorceress, and he was her Knight.

They were _supposed_ to be together, and they had promised to always find their way back.

* * *

 

Each day wore on Rinoa more and more, and the lack of any sort of human contact hurt her soul. She would try to dream away the hours as best as she could. Precious memories played in her mind. She could recall her mother playing the piano as they both sang along to the songs she’d written.

Her father would watch them, smiling, albeit stiffly, from his armchair, across the lounge.

Rinoa’s mother hadn’t been a victim of the Heartless. No, a car crash had taken her long before the shadowy creatures could devour their world.

But her father was. He was a general, a great defender of their city. But even great defenders fell; and when he did, when Rinoa was only eleven, she was suddenly an orphan, with no family, and no place to call her home.

But Traverse Town _had_ become her home, with her friends - her family.

Rinoa remembered helping Aerith in her flower shop, as well as tending to those who were injured in Heartless attacks. She’d laugh with Yuffie as they watched Cid and Cloud tinker with yet another gummi ship part, until the pair were almost at each other’s throats.

Rinoa recalled, too, the first time she’d met Squall, and the night they’d spent watching the stars in the sky. The first time they’d kissed was clear in her mind, and she could never forget the day she thought she would lose him forever and instead he’d promised to stand by her side.

Whenever she got too far in those thoughts, Rinoa would stop. There was no point in wallowing in what she couldn’t change.

So, under her breath she would hum the tune from her mother’s most popular song, and sooner or later, her thoughts would then drift to Squall. He’d never said it, but he always smiled when she sang that song.

She sent a prayer into the cold air; and bedded down for another lonely night on this barren plain.

* * *

 

The witch found her, about a month after Rinoa found herself in this place.

Or, Rinoa thought it _might_ be a month. It was hard to tell; time didn’t seem to flow in the same way here; in what felt like an endless nothingness. Every day was longer than the last, and dragged terribly. Rinoa thought it felt like the first few months she’d spent in Traverse Town; maybe it was just because she missed her friends terribly.

“You are lost, child?” asked the witch, with a small smile. She had a long black cloak, with trimmings of purple.

It looked grand, almost like something a Queen might wear. But there was also something distinctly not-human about her too; the curve of the horns on her head, and the pale-green tint to her skin.

Rinoa knew things like that could happen to Sorceresses, ones who had lost their Knights.

It struck Rinoa then that she was one of those Sorceresses now, and the fear that she might lose herself, might do something terrible, served to grip her heart. But she refused to bow to it; not when she didn’t fully trust the witch in front of her.

“I’m not lost,” Rinoa replied, as confidently as she could. “Just stuck; _temporarily_.”

But she was certain she’d find a way out soon, even though her powers had seemed to desert her in what would seem like the simplest of tasks. But traversing through worlds wasn’t easy; Cid and Squall could only do it with the gummi ship, and they hadn’t even fully mastered that.

Rinoa knew that even her powers had their limits.

“I would only like to help, my dear,” the witch intoned, with what _looked_ like concern in her eyes. “Why, won’t you at least tell me your name?”

“Rinoa,” she replied, and then almost as quickly asked, “what’s yours?”

The witch gave a sharp laugh.

“You’re a smart one, Rinoa, aren’t you?” she said; now there was something completely different in her eyes. “And _powerful_ too. I can feel the power running through your veins; Edea’s, isn’t it?”

“You knew Edea?”

The mention of the previous Sorceress, the one who’d appeared in Traverse Town one day with grave wounds, and an even graver warning about the one who’d inflicted them, caught Rinoa off-guard.

“A dear friend,” the witch replied, with a snarl that seemed decidedly not friendly. “Misguided as she was, of course.”

“Misguided?” questioned Rinoa, though she felt that the pieces were starting to click into place.

Who this witch was, and why she’d suddenly appeared now. How she knew Edea, too, and what her connection to the long-dead Sorceress could be.

“In thinking she could escape the darkness,” the witch replied, shaking her head. “You see, with our powers, we can _control_ it, and in turn it cannot overtake us. I can show you how, Rinoa. I could help you where I couldn’t help my friend.”

Rinoa took a step back from the outstretched hand the witch now held out to her, shaking her head.

“No. No! I don’t want a place in the darkness.”

The witch looked as though she’d expected this resistance. Rinoa knew she’d rather die here, than join her.

“But the darkness is already calling your name,” the witch said, delicately. “Can’t you hear it? And you have people you miss, people you love dearly. You’d do anything to reunite with them, wouldn’t you?”

Rinoa felt herself falter; even for a moment, at the implicit promise that this witch might be able to help her reunite with her friends. The thought of seeing Squall again too was almost too much, almost enough to find Rinoa considering the idea.

And then she thought about him again; _really_ thought. His world had been destroyed by darkness; his parents, his sister, his friends. More so, Rinoa had lost her own loved ones to the shadows, too.

How could she face him – how could she face _herself_ if she became involved in the same wickedness?

Rinoa shook her head.

“You never told me your name,” she muttered, a hand behind her back, as she conjured the most powerful spell she could think of.

It was only on a chance that it might hurt a being who seemed as powerful as the witch in front of her but it was the chance she’d have to take.

“Maleficent.”

Edea’s murderer, and the witch who’d destroyed Radiant Garden.

The same witch who’d, presumably, taken Rinoa’s world from her too.

That burst of anger, at hearing the name, was for Rinoa to cast the most powerful _Holy_ spell she could remember. Maleficent looked shocked, for even a fraction of a second, before cackling, and sending off a spell of equal strength.

Their magic met, causing a colourful explosion in the abandoned wasteland. Rinoa blinked furiously; too tired to really take in her surroundings.

Still, she was at least glad to see Maleficent was gone. For the time being, she suspected.

This wasn’t the end of it; it could only be the beginning.

* * *

 

Rinoa hadn’t seen Maleficent in what felt like months, but had probably only been a matter of days. Time, now, had begun to play funny tricks with her mind. Sometimes it would trickle by slowly; and other times, Rinoa would struggle to keep up with it.

The lack of Maleficent’s presence was at least of some relief, but Rinoa found other worries besides her fellow Sorceress, plaguing her mind.

The song, the one her mother had written – the one she’d spent so much time singing and playing, as a young girl – was beginning to slip from her mind. She’d thought it was just the tiredness and stress playing on her. Trying to remain calm and rational, Rinoa had figured the darkness that crept out from the shadows, as well as the uneven nature of time, was causing her to simply not think straight.

At first, it was a word out of place, and then a whole verse. Suddenly, the melody would escape her. No matter how often she tried, Rinoa found she could no longer sing the song the whole way through.

Her mother would be so disappointed.

Or so Rinoa thought – in the rare moments she could remember the woman’s face.

Though she’d lost her so young, Rinoa had never forgotten her mother’s face. It was in forgetting that that she realised there was nothing the darkness _wouldn’t_ take. Rinoa began to wonder, and was afraid of, how long it would be until she lost _herself_ to it too.

“You fear forgetting. Don’t you, my child?”

Rinoa turned her head swiftly, at the sound of the voice. It was Maleficent’s, she was sure of it. Tired as she was, as drained as she felt, Rinoa struggled to get her to her feet, and look around. She didn’t know if she had any power left to fight the witch off.

And she wasn’t sure what doing so would cost her either.

Closing her eyes tightly, Rinoa thought back as far as she could; to her home, to her mother and father; not just the fragments of them, but the real and tangible memories. She thought of Traverse Town, and the ones she’d left behind there.

She held on as tightly as she could to the rare sight of Squall’s smile, and the soft touch of his hand.

“You can’t hurt me,” Rinoa muttered, through gritted teeth, trying her best to concentrate. “You-“

“But I already have, Sorceress Rinoa,” Maleficent purred, from her place in the darkness. “You see, you could have made a powerful ally, and instead I will be your worst nightmare. Unless, of course, you’ve changed your mind.”

The torture of loneliness, and the burden of her powers, might’ve been enough to persuade her, but Rinoa knew she had to be stronger than that and stand her ground. It’s what any of the others would do, and she would make them, and Edea – even her parents, though they would have never been able to predict the path she’d taken - proud.

“Do your worst. I won’t give in to you.”

“Very well,” Maleficent replied, sounding almost pleased. “Your power shall be mine.”

And in that, Rinoa knew what she’d have to do to preserve the parts of herself she had left.

* * *

 

She couldn’t remember her name, or even where she was. When she woke up, she shivered against the bitter cold. Her black tank top, and shorts did next to nothing to protect her against the elements.

“H-Hello?” the young woman called out. “Is anybody there?”

She thought, strangely, that, wherever she was, didn’t even feel like a _place_ at all.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a small glimmer of light. Wings, shaped almost like a butterfly, floated up to the sky. She tried to touch those wings, but as soon as she’d stood, they were gone.

And that felt more final than anything else.

It was strange, too, that it sent a crushing feeling through her stomach. So too, she felt a tear slip from her eye. She wiped it, and examined it on her fingertip. She couldn’t remember anything, nonetheless any reason for her to feel _sad_.

“My dear child, are you alright?” a voice asked behind her.

She turned to the almost-assuring sound. The idea of not being alone was a huge relief. The figure in front of her was tall and slender, with a pale-green tint to her skin. Horns adorned the top of her head, though the young woman wondered if they were a _part_ of her, or simply a headdress.

She found she was too afraid to ask, and swallowed down the question dancing on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she shook her head in response.

“I-I think I’m lost,” admitted the young woman. “Do you have any idea _where_ we are?”

The woman, a cane in hand, walked forward, and looked at her with comforting eyes.

“The darkness,” she replied, sounding sympathetic. “You’ve been trapped here for a while now, it seems. But, if you come with me, we can find a way out of this, _together_. I am seeking the light; you can help me.”

In front of the young woman, a portal appeared. It seemed to have appeared from the other woman’s hand. She was stunned, at the sight of it.

“H-How?”

“My name is Maleficent. I am a Sorceress, bestowed with great power,” replied the other woman. “A power that I can sense in you too. Surely, you want to know more about where you’ve come from? _How_ you ended up here?”

The young woman looked to Maleficent, and then back to the portal she’d just created. In the back of her mind, the young woman remembered, too, the bright light she’d witnessed as she’d woken up. Those wings had signified something, but she wouldn’t be able to remember what it was in this forsaken place.

So she nodded her head to Maleficent, who looked pleased by her response.

“There is one matter to attend to,” Maleficent announced, pointing a thin finger in the air. “Your name. I gave you mine, and yet you have not introduced yourself.”

“M-my name?” the young woman questioned, and she tried as hard as she could to remember. Eventually, she had to admit defeat, shaking her head sadly.

“I don’t know that either. I don’t know anything.”

Unconsciously, she brought her hands up to her neck, and clutched a pair of rings set on the chain. It brought her a comfort she didn’t understand, and she was surprised she hadn’t noticed them before.

One of the rings was in the shape of a lion, and the other a simple wedding band. This raised more questions than they answered, but if Maleficent noticed her confusion she didn’t say anything.

Instead, the powerful Sorceress looked more thoughtful than anything.

“Then we must bestow unto you a new one,” she declared, before granting another smile. “I once had a friend with powers such as yours; she could control time and space, but was unfairly persecuted.”

“She sounds powerful.”

Maleficent hummed in agreement. “Oh, she was.”

“Her name; it was Ultimecia,” Maleficent explained, “and _you_ , my child, shall be her namesake.”

Maleficent, looking proud, turned away, and so the young woman was left to think about her new name. She mouthed it once or twice, but there was something about it that sent a chill down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold air.

 _Ultimecia_ ; there was something about that name that didn’t quite feel right.

But the time to think of it was past, she guessed, as Maleficent strode towards her, and ushered her towards the portal, leading her deeper into the further unknown.

**Author's Note:**

> -Jsyk, I don't subscribe to the Rinoa is Ultimecia theory; this is purely a mythology gag. And I definitely do want to get into Edea's role in all of this. I already have a good chunk of that part written; just have to finish it.
> 
> -As always, please let me know what you think, or leave some kudos if you enjoyed. And even if you do none of those things, it's fine. I just hope you enjoyed!
> 
> -Hopefully I'll be back with an update very soon! :)


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